At the beginning of August, we reported on the new Center for Digital Health within the Temple Lung Center at Temple University Health System in Philadelphia. Now we are seeing some the tangible results of the work Dr. Gerard Criner had been doing even before he helped start the center.
An online-first article in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health details how patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder better controlled their conditions by using an app for reporting symptoms than those who were just told to seek medical attention if they felt like they were getting worse.
While hospitalization and mortality rates were about the same for both the control and study groups, there was a marked improvement over a two-year period in daily peak flow rates and dyspnea only for those using the app. Patients who reported symptoms via the app would receive same-day care recommendations directly from a clinician if the reports indicated that their COPD was worsening.
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“Previous studies at other sites have questioned the efficacy of various telemedicine solutions in COPD patients, but those studies have not used a solution that enables same-day treatment in response to worsening patient symptoms,” explained Criner, the principal investigator for this study.
“We have been studying digital health solutions for COPD symptom management for over a decade, and are pleased that the improvements we have seen in our patients in response to early identification and intervention has been documented in this clinical study,” Criner added.
